Gadget Guide to Connecting With Your Pets

August 31, 2016

3:00 pm

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As entrepreneurs and office dwellers, we don’t all have the privilege to take our furry friends to work. Worse yet, when we are traveling and away from home, our fur kids are in the hands of someone else. Fortunately, we live in the age of internet of things (IoT), and if someone can connect a gadget or hardware to wifi, it will eventually find its way on the market or crowdfunded.

Thanks to the IoT boom, we can watch, talk to, play, and even treat our furry (perhaps scaly) friends from anywhere with an internet connection. These eight gadgets will allow you to stay connected with your pets, while ensuring they are home safely.

Canary– From keeping an eye on your pets to ensuring there are no intruders entering your home, Canary features an HD wide-lens camera with smart alerts. Never set your monitoring system manually again.

Petcube and Petcube Bites – are the interactive pet cameras that lets you virtually look after your pets. See, talk to, and play with your pets remotely from your smartphone, using the Petcube app. The Petcube Camera features a 138°-degree wide angle lens and streams real-time HD video. It has a built-in microphone and speaker for 2-way audio, and a certified, safe laser toy to play and exercise your pets. For peace of mind, you can also get sound and motion alerts to get notified of your pet’s movements. The team recently launched a KickStarter for the second edition, PetCube Play. PetCube Bites is similar to Petzi, giving your pets treats and allowing you to interact with them from anywhere. (See image).

Whistle GPS with thwart your escape artist – Although there are a few dog trackers and dog GPS tags, Whistle was one of the first on the market. This device has been tried and tested, plus helped in the recovery of at least one tech.co team pooch nearly six times. Plus, it also has a built in activity tracker, setting alerts to let you monitor any changes in behavior that may indicate an issue.

Petzi Remotely Provides Treats Camera’s are great, but how do you encourage your pup to get into the spotlight? Treats! Petzi is a gadget that connects to your home’s wifi and allows pet owners to see, hear, and dispense treats to their pets remotely using any internet enabled smart device.

GoBone Keeps Your Pup Busy Similar in nature to the PlayDate ball, GoBone is an interactive durable toy for dogs. Unlike PlayDate, this does not have a camera built in it, but it can either be controlled through an app or set on a program of its own. The inner controls can also easily be swapped into new bodies for when the exterior has been chewed up.

PlayDate is the BB-8 of Pet Toys Like Petcube, PlayDate is all about interacting with your pups when you can’t be home. This recent Indiegogo success was funded 600% over their goal, and allows you to control a durable ball with a camera in it. Think Star Wars BB-8 toy, but for dogs.

StarWalk is a Fitbit for dogs Fitness watches and step trackers are still all the rage, so why not get one for your pet? StarWalk is an app-based activity-monitoring device for dogs (like a Fitbit), that helps pet owners achieve health and fitness goals for their pup. In addition to reporting a dog¹s daily activity, StarWalk also has a blinking reminder feature, allowing pet owners to set alerts to remind them of veterinarian visits, when to administer medication, doggy play dates as well as see a visual progress indicator for daily fitness goals.

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Elliot is an award winning journalist deeply ingrained in the startup world and is often digging into emerging technology and data. When not writing, he's likely either running or training for a triathlon. You can contact him by email at elliot(@)elliotvolkman.com or follow him on Twitter @thejournalizer.